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Updated: May 30, 2026
10:39
3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
Syncopal migraine
David Curfman1, Michael Chilungu, Robert B Daroff
1The Autonomic Laboratory, Neurological Institute, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Summary
Nearly one-third of recurrent syncope patients experience syncopal migraine, a condition resembling migraine more than reflex syncope. Anti-migraine treatments effectively reduced syncope in half of these patients.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Headache Medicine
Background:
- Syncope is a transient loss of consciousness.
- A subset of syncope patients report concurrent migraine headaches.
- Some patients with syncope and headache respond to anti-migraine therapies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the frequency of migrainous features in syncope patients.
- To propose clinical criteria for identifying syncope with a potential migrainous mechanism.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective, questionnaire-based study.
- Developed syncopal migraine criteria based on International Classification of Headache Disorders II (ICHD-II).
- Compared 248 recurrent syncope subjects (stratified by headache presence) with 199 migraine patients.
Main Results:
- Approximately 33% of recurrent syncope subjects met criteria for syncopal migraine.
- Syncopal migraine patients shared characteristics (age, gender, autonomic testing, comorbidities) with migraineurs.
- Syncopal migraine was associated with longer syncope duration and recovery.
- Anti-migraine medications reduced syncope by 50% in affected patients.
Conclusions:
- Syncope may frequently have a migrainous origin, more so than previously recognized.
- Proposed criteria can help identify patients with potential syncopal migraine.
- Syncopal migraine shows closer epidemiological links to migraine than to reflex syncope.
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